Drive in the Light: Fueling Positive Leadership Impact
The need to persist, stay motivated, self-direct, and channel resources into achieving goals is one of the most standout characteristics of being human - it’s what drives us. It’s also one of the reasons our species has thrived over millennia.
Why Drive Predicts Leadership Success
Drive is one of the most consistent predictors not only of leader emergence (predicting who will be seen as “leader-like” in a group), but also of leadership effectiveness and transformational leadership behaviors. It’s a core personality trait that many leadership coaches focus on - helping leaders recognize when drive is enhancing their impact and also when it might be overused or misdirected.
The Link Between Proactive Leadership and Employee Outcomes
Leadership proactivity, an expression of drive, brings several other benefits: employees are more likely to report high-quality relationships with supervisors, which supports the exchange of useful information and increased performance. In turn, this is associated with higher job satisfaction and more prosocial behaviors from employees who experience positive relationships with their leaders – benefitting not just teams, but organizations.
Driven Leaders at Their Best
These aspects of drive are especially important when considered in relation to core human needs identified as essential for optimal leadership and employee functioning - both in terms of performance and wellbeing. These include the needs for:
Competence
Relatedness
Autonomy
When leaders have an underlying motivational need (the spark), combined with high levels of drive (the engine), they’re able to accomplish a great many things. Of course, it’s essential that leaders aim their drive at the right goals - putting their energy to good use.
When driven leaders are operating at their best, they strive to learn, master new skills, and apply their talents in prosocial and humanistic ways. People need to feel they are good at what they do (competence). They need to use their strengths - this fosters engagement. They also need to feel like they are part of a group or have relationships that bring meaning to their life (relatedness). Finally, they need to experience their behavior as self-determined - not coerced - to stay motivated and find a sense of meaning (autonomy). These factors have significant impact on not just leadership effectiveness (performance) but also on wellbeing for leaders and their teams.
Cultivating Purposeful Drive in Leadership
When a leader is driven by a desire to help others, act with altruism, and contribute to the betterment of humanity or the planet - and when they experience their actions as self-directed and fueled by a genuine desire to learn, grow, and achieve - drive becomes a transformative force. When this internal spark is paired with the engine of drive, it can lead to extraordinary, purpose-driven outcomes.
These are the leaders who won’t just succeed in the 21st century - they’ll help shape a future that’s better for all of us.
Key References:
Do, M. H., & Minbashian, A. (2014). A meta-analytic examination of the effects of the agentic and affiliative aspects of extraversion on leadership outcomes. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(5), 1040–1053. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2014.04.004
Grant, A. M. (2013). Give and take: A revolutionary approach to success. Viking.
Li, N., Liang, J., & Crant, J. M. (2010). The role of proactive personality in job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior: A relational perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(2), 395–404. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018079
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78.
Zhang, J., Yin, K., & Li, S. (2022, December 9). Leader extraversion and team performance: A moderated mediation model. PLoS ONE, 17(12), e0278769. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278769